Making this side dish is easy, especially when you’ve got a “helper.” And welcome help is what I received with a package that arrived recently from Barilla.

Barilla, a sponsor at the BlogHerFood conference in Atlanta in May, shipped out a box of their new sauces, bags to carry them in, a good looking Apron and a wooden spoon.

Leaving the house at 6am, returning at 5pm and putting dinner on the table sometimes calls for what I like to call “helpers” in the kitchen and Barilla was my helper of choice last night — along with a sleeve of polenta.

While I get great satisfaction in creating food from scratch, with a busy lifestyle that has me leaving the house at 6:00am and returning at 5:00pm, sometimes I need a bit of help. I keep at least one jar of marinara sauce in the pantry and it was great to receive this Barilla package to try out a wide variety of new sauces.

Before the recipe and giveaway details, a little information. Barilla has reformulated their sauces using all natural ingredients and there are eight to choose from. I tried the Napoletana. It is a Roasted Garlic Sauce. It has a rich flavor with a thick texture and chunks of tomatoes. The garlic flavor was strong enough to let you know garlic is in there, but is not overpowering, which I appreciate.

These are the sauces I received:

Arrabbiata: Spicy Marinara

Basilico: Tomato and Basil

Calabrese: Sweet Peppers

Formaggi: Three Cheese

Marinara: Traditional

Montanara: Mushroom and Garlic

Toscana: Tuscan Herb

The best part is that it fits well in my weight loss program. I’ve got a number of recipes up my sleeve, but for this first outing with these sauces, I kept it simple. The sleeves of polenta shave a lot of time off what would be a somewhat laborious and time consuming project in the kitchen after work and not having to cook down tomatoes, herbs and seasonings on the stove gave me much more time to relax after dinner.

And now for the contest …

One winner will receive a Barilla Apron, Wooden Spoon and a Jar of Sauce — your choice of one of the sauces listed above.

I’ll choose a winner using a random number generator. Entering is simple All you need to do to receive this package is leave a comment below letting us know what you’d like to make with the sauce of your choice. One comment per person. Please include an email address so I can contact the winner. You’ll get another chance to enter by “liking” ThinRecipes on Facebook. The contest closes at midnight, Eastern Daylight Time, Saturday, August 27th. Good luck!!

There will six more sauces available to giveaway in the weeks to come, so stay tuned.

Barilla Polenta Rounds

#ratingval# from #reviews# reviews

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Recipe Type: Side Dish

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: 1

Putting dinner together with a delicious sauce like this and polenta discs cut from a tube makes an dinner side dish or a satisfying lunch quick and easy

Ingredients

Olive Oil Spray

4 slices prepared Polenta

1 slice Provolone Cheese, cut in quarters

1/4 cup Barilla Sauce

1 tablespoon Parmesan Cheese, grated

Instructions

Using Olive Oil spray, lightly coat a nonstick skillet.

Add the polenta slices to the pan and cook over medium heat, browning evenly.

Polenta and Marinara sauce are like an Italian marriage made in the kitchen and it usually requires a lot of watching and stirring and, oh yeah, tasting!

And here’s the surprising part … in the interest of time and temptation, I veered off the totally made from scratch, no packaged or jarred food routine I usually adhere to and bought a tube of polenta and a jar of marinara sauce. ::::::GASP:::::: !!

Ok, I’ll admit it, I always keep a small jar of Rao’s Marinara in the fridge. It’s my emergency stash. I often make Rao’s Marinara Sauce using this recipe, but scaling it back. I’m not feeding the neighborhood, after all, but I am not wonder woman and sometimes need help during the week.

This meal takes no more than 10 minutes to get from package to table and while you spend those 10 minutes hovering over a hot stove, it’s easy work and the results are well worth it for your 3 points, the effort is minimal and the taste and texture are just what you desire. Crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.

This is a quick and easy side dish that can be cooked and on the table in 10 minutes. I don’t make a habit of using prepared food, but there are times when products like these — Polenta Tubes and a Jar of Marinara Sauce are the perfect answer to a weeknight dinner.

I use the tube of polenta found in the vegetable aisle of my local grocery store. It’s quick and while I sometimes make it from scratch, for a last minute pan-fried polenta treat, I find the tube works well.

Remove to a plate and spoon a tablespoon of marinara sauce over each cake.